J.S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue in A Minor

[KafeinBE]

As if only playing with your hands wasn't difficult enough :D

[The48robert]

Tempos are off! I really don't like his interpretation! The slowness of the Prelude was ssoooooooooo slow. Did much better with the fugue but I don't like the phrasing either! Listen to the tempos of Marie Claire Alain for an idea of what I'm talking about! This is Bach playing at its worst!

[Brockett122]

Nice job, buddy. Keep playing, you'll get better.

[OfficerRobertHall]

BRAVO!

[aamusc]

Good sense of timing.!

[smokeyvolvo]

9:15 wow...

[robmcw]

You added notes. The first time the pedal enters in the fugue. Measure 27. No complaints. Virgil Fox did the same thing.

[missionaryorganist]

Most Incredible, absolute command of the music and the organ. I really like your registrations, tempos are perfect. You really brought out the musical phrases. A most enjoyable performance.

[moiUnenlagia]

Awesome ! You are a great musician.

So bach is.

[polsterj]

Finally someone who isn't scared of reeds - liked it!

[bachkirche]

The E. Power Biggs' recording of this masterpiece is unsurpassed

[conwayanderson9]

Ach, dear Bach...(afraid my organ-ticklings were crimes of opportunity)... nevertheless, I was privileged, at 13, to attract the mentorship of our gifted young choral/music instructor, whose instrumental major had been piano; when she saw how I glommed onto Bach, she gave me the Peters ed. of Lizst's transcription & I went berserk-have played it from memory now for nearly 50 years!!!

[KellyBHV]

Klasse !! 

[thays3649]

This organist needs to check the opening subject. Play the right notes and in time. This is definitely not a performance for public . Absolute crap!!!!!

[eelgar1857]

@thays3649

No need to be cruel. I only heard one incorrect note in the opening.

[uberkelvin]

Wow! This is creepier than the D minor

[Kaxtz]

This gives me chills. Kiyo Watanabe, You my friend, are absolutely AMAZING in every sense of the word. Would take loads of skill to play that so masterfully. Keep it up :D

[pokamochaa]

impressive and majestic. gotta love the organ!

[pepitho]

un genio, sin duda

[miltronix]

He obviously has an excellent, secure technique; I kept wishing he had played from music so he wouldn't have made so many mistakes.

The interpretation of the Prelude was too unrestrained and, to my ears, vulgar.

There are better performances of this masterpiece on Youtube...

[ppaajjeerroo]

Al principio el organista equivoca una tecla...

lástima, tan bueno el resto, y MAL el principio

[armonici]

Bueno ahora subi un video tuyo interpretando esta obra, a ver q tal tocas ;)

[tenor175]

In all the years i have studied organ I have never heard of this piece! It's very interesting to hear and I liked it. BRAVO MAESTRO!!! Well done! Good post.

[tekmet]

really?...never heard this?...wow.

Probably the best piece for organ...most creative at least.

[asgjdas]

Interesting start... Lord knows I don't play the entire piece perfectly so I won't be harsh! Just curious as to why so many registration changes and use of swell shades. My instructors have always said thats a "no no" for Bach, but hey, to each to their own, I'm just curious to get another musician's thoughts. Feel free to comment on my recording of it...

[robertgift]

Wrong notes at the beginning are a little surprising.

Interesting sensitive performance.

Too many stop changes, but also interesting.

32' reed does not belong.

At 4:39 I like the extra pedal note matching the fugue subject in the manuals. Not in Peters Edition. (Thought I was the only one to add that.)

Moron editor. At 7:15 show the first (wider) view including the pedals when the pedal becomes complex.

SHOW HIM taking his bow.  Not the distant shot, dolt. We hardly see his face.

[DominusNile]

@robertgift How did you put those links in there to the timing of the piece?

[robertgift]

@DominusNile When numbers are typed with a colon 0:00 , Youtube converts it to a time point.

Sad thathis is not an acoustically live place.

When I played this on the Von Beckerath organ of St. Paul's Cathedral, Pitttsburgh, it was so glorius that I could not keep my hands from trembling from excitement.

[paradoxicus]

Es una hermosa interpretacion.

[cacaloveforever]

so.. soo... so beautiful

[wakadudel]

Most excellent performance for my taste! Very good registration....very crisp. I can clearly hear each and every note. I often hear this piece performed with little distinction between the ranks and it becomes mush. I like your tempo as well (maybe a touch faster on the first phrase). You are one of my favorite interpreters of Bach organ pieces on Youtube! Thank you sincerely.

[mortson978]

e moll is better if you ask me.

[hutzman76]

started a tad sluggish, but quickly turned into an awesome recording. Well done on the memorization and amazing live performance.

[youhavegottabejoking]

I actually liked the slower intro section, kind of a deliberate mood, just to seet the scene and grab one's attention. Once you have the audiences hooked, you reel them in with the brilliance of the least moody-sounding minor key fugues. Try as you might, this A-minor fugue just wants to believe that its a major keys ugly stepbrother, and he wants to break into a joyous key so badly you can almost taste it. Poor, put upon A-minor fuguelette. Great preformance, great recording, great post!

[goodgood001]

わぁ、すごい。アーティキュレーションについてはちょっと受け入­れられないところがあるけど、演奏自体はなかなかだと思う。日本­で活躍しているオルガニストよりはいい演奏をしている。

[muthoslogoseidolon]

Oui, très bien pour un orgiste japonais. :P

[tmwysong]

Wonderful.

[dieselsauce]

That was a stunning piece of art. Clearly played with heart and soul, I don't understand how anyone can critisize. Music is an artform, whose boundaries are meant to be broken. This a beautiful piece and it was rendered beautifully. Enough said. BRAVO!

[artichaut]

C'est chiant tous ces gens qui toussent dans les concerts.

[audioamateur]

I really like his interpretation, especially of the videos posted on youtube. Most of them tend to rush this amazing piece.

[iglaczek1]

Practise ,practise,practise!As far as now bad preformance

[mysteriousbarajas]

this is the first time ive herd an organ and its great to hear it from your music :)

[bachkirche]

Arp Schnitger turns over in his grave every time this organ is played.

[XxEmbeddedxX]

ok honestly, for the people that say this performance is bad, the guy is playing the organ, he is playing the song MEMORIZED, the song has four "voices" going on at the same time and this is really great....he is putting a lot of feeling into this great performance so before u judge, think if you can do the same

[jebac13]

IronCriJ you are dumb this is the most beautifull Bach's piece and its not romantic at all...indeed I think its played a bit to slow and the registration could be better...but still it sounds great cuz it is BACH! BWV 543

[sforzando227]

While I would agree with you about this interpretation, I would like to point out that Bach wrote many great pedal lines...It is a pity that we cannot hear them - perhaps the determining factor is more than can be soon.

[IronCriJ]

I DON'T LIKE IT, I DON'T LIKE IT, I DON'T LIKE IT!!!

BACH WASN'T A ROMANTIC MUSICIAN!!!

For Me the Prelude is unheard, The Fugue a little less, but for me THIS ISN'T BACH!!!

[sforzando227]

While I would agree that the interpretation of this piece is overly romantic (never would I play this way), to say that Bach had no romantic feeling intertwined into the music is absurd. There is just as much romance in the music of the baroque period as that of Schubert, Liszt, and Brahms. Perhaps the interpretation could have been more true to form, but an outright comment like that is what causes (pardon the pun) dissention among the ranks.

[giosueledg]

very nice congratulations

[gabaude81]

Magnifique !!!!!

Bravo, Félicitations.

[antbeast01]

As an organist for over 4 decades, I say anyone that can play the A Minor like this, and from memory on such a well equipped instrument has my respect. Anyone should realize poor recording quality is not the same as sitting at the console, or in the same room as the live instrument. It's all I can do to play it with music. Bravo, my friend.

[kiyow]

Danke! (=^・^=)

[mortson978]

I wish I had access to these instruments. I live in the sticks, with nothing but my Hammond spinet.

[MrDonowens]

@kiyow

Bitte

[helloitsmelol097]

@antbeast01 I definately agree i've only been playing for about 3 years and I love it. It has brought me to a whole knew thought about instruments. Also does anyone know how to find the rank of an organ?

[therisingplague]

@antbeast01 Isn't A minor the easiest key though because theres no sharps or flats? I'm not disagreeing with you, hes obviously very good lol

[Terrdemarzielle]

@therisingplague That doesn't count for much when the subject of the piece is based on a chromatic scale :)

[kenmoore137]

@therisingplague Sharps or flats in the key signature don't bother trained musicians

very much; pieces are easy or difficult irrespective of key signature. Bach doesn't stay in A minor anyway.

[captaincabeman]

@therisingplague As a violinist, the keys make all the difference to me. However, as a pianist, it doesn't matter as long as you're properly trained play well.

[Chesterbarnes1]

@antbeast01 Amen! I agree

[rangerboy96]

Wondeful playing, but way to many stop changes.

[gedeck4foot]

It's called expression. the way the performer

feels the pice. if you played the pice note for note and exactly as it is on manuscript.

YOUR BORRING.

[assistantorganist]

I have to say i'm quite intrigued with all the stop changes?!

[organmaster1969]

Well, I don't like Virgil Fox. His playing tends to be too fast just to show off his skill. He was more of an entertainer than a musician. I prefer E. Power Biggs.

[1001100x02]

This performance is very close to recordings I have of Michael Murry and Daniel Chorzempa. Great job!

I transcribed this for piano, but it just doesn't sound as good.

[riverscuomo06]

haha, virgil was very entertaining. but if you want somebody who plays way too fast, check out anthony newman.  his recordings sound like shit because he plays so damn fast.

[tromba8]

GRANDIOSO, VIVA BACH!

[organmaster1969]

The 32' doesn't belong in the Prelude at all. The prelude was way too dramatized for a piece written in the Baroque. Too many people destroy Bach.

[gedeck4foot]

I disagree. It depends on the peformers inturpitation of Bach. Look at Virgil Fox.

This young man has fire

[gedeck4foot]

Also, if you want to bland then you can play

it with the 16,8,4,2,mixtures, PUT ME TO SLEEP. Not the way entended. Yes He wrote the pice, but left it opend for Intupitation. Sit streight at the console and play MECHCANICAL!!

[riverscuomo06]

you're right, the 32' doesn't belong, especially because of the fast pedal work. it ends up just getting muddy and sounding like crap. no 32' goes for any fast pedalwork, not just baroque!

[gedeck4foot]

BOARING!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE IS YOUR HEART, WHERE

IS THE FIRE., WHERE IS THE FLAIR. WHERE IS BACH. I think he would injoy everyones inturpitation. This why he wrote his compestions

[mortenkul]

I understand you, wheres the Fast before playing in FUGUE!?

[tyty6789]

You spelled FLARE wrong. Don't critisize people if you can't even spell.

[JustinHEMI05]

Arguably, THE best on youtube. Thanks for this, you inspire me.

Justin

[ctkdavid]

Amazing!

[Drewnov2003]

I play the organ and I take in alot of organ concerts. This guy makes the pulling of stops an elegant and classic act. I have watched it over and over just to apprciate how each stop pulling is choreographed and raised to an art form in itself. He is approaching organ playing the way a gymnast or scater would as if each move was juried, great work!

[robertgift]

[Why did my previous reply not appear under Rupert's?]

Wonderful.

No 32' reed stop sounds are appropriate in any Bach. Sound like they don't belong.

Like the contrasts.

Hate when all played on ONE manual.

Especially like the way you reintroduced fugue subject on Great while rest was on Swell.

Thank you.

[Organbest]

Buona esecuzione,bella espressione.Bravo.

[iamguy991]

I found his choice of using all three manuals on the triplets during the second to last measure was interesting...I feel that it was rushed going into the final cadenza though. I guess I'm into more dramatic effect and suspense. Good performance though!

[MarsLars0804]

I enjoyed this-especially the fugue.

[thordur17]

haha whuuuuut!

[robertgift]

Not very well, I'm told.

[orgorg7]

Always marveled at people who could play an organ. The dedication, and memory is incredible.

[eliasthegreek]

if there was a man who knows the language of GOD that MUST be J.S.Bach.

[octave4]

There are about 120 Drawknobs on the console. Looks big doesn't it. But only 79 ranks (Not registers) to back it up. SO this is highly unified. The building sounds pretty dead. Performance is pretty nicely done though

[DonutRawr]

why does it look like theres no one in the church ?

[donald22447]

Should there be someone there during special music or recording? I dont think it is necessary but up to you...

[kiyow]

I don't know why it looks like there's no one in the church. This video was taken during a concert, and I had at least 150 people in the audience, though.

[Alexjr1543]

I really like the feeling of there being no one in the church but the organ player.

[TheGloryofMusic]

@DonutRawr We all sneaked out and came back in for the applause.

[silicio78]

wow